Health Care
Planned Parenthood of Michigan opens new virtual health center
Planned Parenthood of Michigan (PPMI) announced Thursday that its new virtual health center is open for use. Previously, patients had to book telehealth services through a brick and mortar health center, but this new service creates a centralized online location for those all over the state to seek care. Across Michigan, there are a number […]
With debt default as soon as a week away, U.S. House jets off for holiday break
WASHINGTON — U.S. House members walked down the steps of the Capitol building Thursday morning to head back to their districts for a Memorial Day recess that began exactly one week before the country could default on the debt. House Democrats took to the floor after the final vote of the week to give a […]
After years of bipartisan spending boosts, U.S. House GOP won’t lift debt ceiling without cuts
WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats in Congress together brokered dozens of debt limit agreements, including several during the past decade, marked by a desire in both political parties to increase federal spending. But U.S. House Republicans now are pushing for the federal government to spend less next year than it will this year in order […]
States see record low unemployment across the US
Across much of the country, the jobs market is as strong as it’s ever been, and Black women, young people and people with disabilities are among the workers benefiting, recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show. Twenty states reported an unemployment rate under 3% in April, while 15 states saw record lows, led by South […]
Column: Filter First legislation would ensure safe drinking water in schools, childcare centers
It’s been almost a decade since the start of the Flint water crisis, and yet there is still no law in our state to ensure that the drinking water in our schools and childcare centers is safe for Michigan kids. That could all change if the Filter First bills recently passed by the Senate (Senate […]
Biden and McCarthy strike positive tone after debt limit talks, but no deal yet
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy left their closely watched meeting Monday without an agreement on government spending or the debt limit, prolonging a stalemate that could soon disrupt Americans’ everyday lives as well as the global economy. Both struck a positive tone Monday, though neither divulged details about what remains unresolved […]
GOP’s desired work requirements for federal aid would kick roughly 21M from anti-poverty programs
Congressional Republicans’ efforts to slash federal spending by tying work requirements to Medicaid and SNAP would have far-reaching consequences for people with mental health issues, chronic health problems, and some people with disabilities if enacted, policy experts on anti-poverty programs say. They say the work requirements as laid out by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s “Limit, […]
Appeals court judges embrace anti-abortion speculation
America’s major medical institutions and drug policy scholars have roundly denounced as “pseudoscience” many of the claims brought by anti-abortion groups in a high-profile federal lawsuit asking the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its 23-year-old approval of mifepristone, one half of a two-drug regimen that has become the most common form of pregnancy termination […]
Lawmakers debate violence against abortion clinics, anti-abortion pregnancy centers
WASHINGTON — Republicans at a U.S. House hearing aired frustration with the Department of Justice this week for what they contended is a lack of enforcement of a Clinton-era law that protects access to reproductive health care at anti-abortion pregnancy centers and abortion clinics. GOP lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee expressed anger the Federal […]
Three-judge panel in U.S. appeals court hears arguments in abortion pill case
NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court panel quizzed lawyers during oral arguments Wednesday over a Texas judge’s decision that could end access to the abortion pill nationwide. Observers see the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals as a legal way station for the case, in which anti-abortion groups sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, […]
Dingell joins Jayapal and Sanders in reintroducing Medicare for All
U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) gathered Wednesday with Democratic colleagues and advocates from across the country for a Washington, D.C., rally following the reintroduction of Medicare for All bills in Congress. According to a statement from Dingell’s office, the reintroduction of Medicare for All […]
Michigan lawmakers to introduce legislation banning conversion therapy for minors on Thursday
Legislation in Michigan to ban mental health professionals from performing conversion therapy on minors under penalty of losing their licenses will be introduced this week. Conversion therapy, the practice of intervening to alter an individual’s gender expression or sexuality to conform to heterosexuality, involves psychologically damaging processes, bill sponsor Rep. Jason Hoskins (D-Southfield) told the […]